27.04.08 - by James Slater: Last night, in Queretaro, Mexico, light-middleweight Julio Cesar Chavez improved his unbeaten record to 36-0-1(29) with a good ninth round TKO over the previously undefeated Tobia Guiseppe Loriga of Italy. The 22 year old son of a boxing legend had his hands full at times, however, and also had to overcome an injury to get his win. Certainly, the now 24-1-1(6) Loriga came to fight..

Not a big puncher by any stretch, the Italian instead used his fine boxing skills to good effect. Tobia was doing well early on, until a big right hand to the head decked him heavily in round number two. Up at the count of about eight, the Italian fought back bravely. He had been badly hurt, though. Loriga got himself back in the fight, landing his share of punches through rounds three to six, but his lack of power saw to it that he never really troubled the aggressive Chavez.

Then, in round number seven, with Loriga under intense pressure from Chavez and taking a whole load of shots, Junior badly hurt his ankle. Rolling over on it, Chavez went down. He got back up, of course, but the ankle was now tender and the Mexican was in some pain. Coming out for the eighth, Chavez's movement was clearly affected, and the Italian took advantage to win the round. But by round number nine, Chavez seemed his old self and he went back on the attack. A right hand upstairs stunned Loriga, and Chavez went for the finish. Eventually, after taking a lot of shots, Loriga went down on one knee and was counted out by referee Guadalupe Garcia. As soon as the count hit ten, Loriga jumped up and then complained that the fight had been stopped. It was his own fault, however, and Chavez scored his 36th pro victory at 1 minute and 47 seconds of the round.

So, the Chavez Junior bandwagon rolls on. Looking good at times last night, the 22 year old will surely now feel ready to move up in class. The immediate future looks set to include a fight with another son of a legend, in Hector Camacho Junior, though. Camacho won on last night's under-card, and it appears the two juniors will clash very soon. For such a bout to take place, Camacho, who weighed 162 pounds last night, would presumably have to drop a few pounds. Such a bout would be intriguing, but Chavez will surely be the betting favourite.

It seems he can definitely fight well, but people now want to see how far Chavez Junior can go.